The legend of Saint Bénézet
The legend of Saint Bénézet started right at the beginning of the 13th century: one day, a young shepherd of small stature (Bénézet means little Benedict) living in the Vivarais, heard a voice that ordered him to build a bridge over the Rhône at Avignon. Guided by an angel, the shepherd arrived in Avignon where his project provoked the scoffing of the inhabitants. He proved his good faith by lifting an enormous stone and carying it all the way to the Rhône. Convinced of the divine will, the habitants got quickly down to the task and built the edifice.

This legend was told in the parishes by the friars, the frères du pont (or frères pontifes) with an eye to collecting money from the faithful whom the tale of Saint Bénézet was expected to impress; when the offerings became scarce, the city of Avignon took over the maintenance of the bridge.

Bénézet did indeed exist; he died in 1184 and therefore could not witness the completion of the bridge a year later. He founded the order of the frères du pont (Friars of the Bridge), who were not builders but money collectors, as we've seen. Hospitaller brothers, they also brought help to the sick and destitute.

L'ouvrage
The bridge of Avignon was started in 1177. 920 metres long, it had 22 arches and measured 4 metres wide. This imposing edifice, that was called the marvel of the time, was built in only 8 years, taking until 1185. The narrowness of the bridge of Avignon contradicts the famous song: "on the bridge of Avignon" one could not "dance round and round"; it seems more likely that one danced under the bridge, as an inn had been set up on the Ile de la Barthelasse, at the foot of one of the small arches.

Before the bridge, people crossed the Rhône in small boats, and this river that Man had not yet domesticated often made the crossing quite perilous. Arles haveing lost its Roman bridge, that of Avignon became the only place between Lyon and the Mediterranean to cross the Rhône. The city attracted travellers, merchants and manufacturers and quickly developed thanks to the revenus generated by the tolls. Without doubt, it had also worked in Avignon's favor when the popes made the decision to settle there in the 14th century.
In 1226, after the terrible siege to which Louis VIII subjected the city, three quarters of the bridge was destroyed. A few years later, despite it being forbidden, the people of Avignon put themselves to the task and rebuilt it. From the former bridge only the chapel remains and is called the lower chapel because the roadway of the second bridge was raised and so the newer St Nicolas Chapel built on it is called the higher chapel.

From the 17th century on, the city could no longer bear the costs of the bridge's maintenance and repairs. In 1603, following strong flooding of the Rhône, one arch collapsed, then three others in 1605. Repair work didn't start until1628, interrupted by an epidemic of plague, and the bridge was not usable again until 1633. Two months later, two new arches were swept away by the Rhône. At that time, various methods were used to cross the river. An island, today the Barthelasse, formed in the middle of the river bed. One headed for the island from Avignon in a small ferry, crossed the island on foot, following a path that lead, with the help of a wooden stairs, to the last 4 arches of the bridge, to finally reach the Philippe le Bel tower, in the kingdom of France.


The bridge of Avignon threatened so much to collapse that the relics of Saint Bénézet were taken from the St Nicolas Chapel in 1674. They were tranferred to the Celestine cloister. After being moved several times and a desecration in 1791, there remained just a few bits from the mortal remains, which are now ket in the cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. Of the bridge itself, there only remains the four famous arches and the Philippe le Bel tower on the Villeneuve-lès-Avignon side, and of course, the famous song known around the world.
From up on the Rocher des Doms, and with a little imagination, you can reconstruct the past: the turbulent river, unpredictable and unsettling, at a much higher wtaer level than today, the Ile de la Barthelasse, just starting to form, and the Philippe le Bel Tower at the other end, awash in the waters.